Write-Offs: A Charity Treaty, a Health-Care Group Goes to Tax Court, and the IRS’s New Web Address

* The I.R.S. has announced an agreement between the United States and Canada that implements an earlier treaty’s provisions on charities. The agreement explains how a group recognized by the government of one country as a charity will automatically be considered to be a tax-exempt group by the other without having to apply for the designation. The treaty and agreement make it easier for foundations in the United States to make grants to Canadian groups (Notice 99-47, Internal Revenue Bulletin 1999-36).

* Three health-maintenance organizations that are part of Intermountain Health Care, a non-profit medical organization based in Utah, have gone to U.S. Tax Court to challenge I.R.S. rulings that they are not charities. The I.R.S. had rescinded the tax exemption of one of the groups, IHC Health Plans, on the grounds that the organization provides “commercial-type” insurance (The Chronicle, January 28). The tax agency had denied charity status to the other two organizations — IHC Group and IHC Care — in part because it said that the organizations were not operated exclusively for charitable purposes.

* The I.R.S. has a new Web-site address that is shorter and easier to remember: http://www.irs.gov. However, the tax agency says that those who have bookmarked the previous address — http://www.irs.ustreas.gov — may continue to use it because the old address is still linked to the service’s Web site. Donors and others can visit the site to search electronically to see whether a charity or private foundation is considered by the government to be a legitimate non-profit organization.